Until They Are Home: Bringing Back the MIAs from Vietnam, a Personal Memoir

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. To the Far Shore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2. Taphonomics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3. La Rue Sans Joie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 4. My Hometown: Hanoi. . . . . . . . . . . . 35 5. Politics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 6. Crossing the River Styx. . . . . . . . . . . . 62 7. Vientiane and Phnom Penh . . . . . . . 73 8. Chasing Odysseus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 9. Christmas and Tet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 10. “That Is Sooooo Vietnam” . . . . . . . .104 11. Ông, Văn Phòng MIA–Hoa Kỳ . . . .111 12. The Last Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121 Afterword: November 2009 . . . . . .127 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 CONTENTS UNTIL THEY ARE HOME ...